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“In my defenselessness my safety lies.” (W-153)
You have
two thought systems in your mind. The ego is the thought system that teaches
you that you are a self in a body in a world. Because this isn’t true when you
identify with the self you experience lack and vulnerability. You spend your
time defining and defending the self’s identity in an attempt to undo your
sense of lack and to feel safe.
The
“defenselessness” referred to in this lesson is the other thought system in
your mind, what A Course in Miracles
calls the Holy Spirit. This thought system comes from the part of your mind
that is always aware of God, or True Being. In this awareness you feel whole
and complete. You feel safe so you have nothing to defend.
So this
lesson is not asking you to be defenseless in the ego. This is not possible,
since it is inherently insecure. It is asking you to turn away from the ego
thought system which teaches you that you lack and are vulnerable. Turn ins…

“….Last week I was
reading Jon Mundy's magazine on the Course…. In his mag, there
was an advertisement notice that there was a new book out, A Course of Love, www.acourseoflove.com...Have
you heard of this book? Will you read it? If you will not read it,
why not? I am curious to get your opinion about its close similarity to
only knowing the Truth and meditating just on the Truth...” – SS

I heard of this book many years
ago and I continue to get advertisements for it. But, no, I will not be reading
it. The need to study fell away from me naturally many years ago. Since then I
find reading spiritual material to be superfluous and, frankly, rather tedious.
I can only liken this to reading a recipe for a dish I make every day. After a
while the recipe becomes unnecessary and turning to it actually gets in the way
of making the dish quickly and efficiently. So when I read spiritual material
now I feel, “too many words”. They are
not necessary for me to experience Truth and they ar…

“Let's say I'm
going about my business feeling no stress, conflict or pain and suddenly,
"out of the blue" comes some disturbing thought about a
person/incident from the past which feels like I'm under attack, requiring me
to defend and counterattack etc. I haven't seen this person for years, they're
not in my life but there they are. While I believe that circumstances and
people don't create feelings in us but rather we project our feelings onto them
(it's entirely my movie), what I don't get is the suddenness, and absence of
current context for these thoughts. Why now?...” – ES
What you describe is when something
of which you are not conscious, or not fully conscious, triggers a memory of a
person or circumstance. It may be some object your eyes light upon, a snatch of
music or another sound, a body memory, or a train of thought that you had not been
consciously following. It may also be that if the ego (personal thought system)
in your mind…

“When I read the
text, the manual and/or the lessons, I invariably fall asleep with the book
open in front of me, often even when I’m fresh soon after waking. I first read
the Course nearly 30 years ago. Ever since, it happens
each time I read the Course,
including your “Message of…” versions
of them. It does not happen when I read them with a group. But this falling asleep
— more like passing out — is often a remarkable experience because when I wake
I experience a sense of release, clarity, energy, and a great welcome for what
is happening in the present. It’s something more than merely waking from a nap
or even from a deep night’s sleep. The words of the Course seem to have so much power that they
virtually sort through my thoughts and find a new place, such that “my”
thoughts seem to be set aside. The result is that I feel a great sense of peace
even though I’m perplexed why I seem to pass out while reading. Is this an
experience you’ve had, and is there a way that I can be consci…

You say that we are
mind but I read others who say mind does not exist. Then there are terms like
awareness, consciousness, and perception that seem to be used in different ways
by different teachers. I get very confused. Can you clarify?
You are
correct that these terms are used by spiritual teachers in various
contradictory or interchangeable ways. I cannot clarify how anyone else uses
them. But I will clarify how I use them.
Before I do that, however, I want
to point out that these contradictions can be useful if you are a serious student
of spiritual material. Words are symbols and will never mean the same thing to
everyone. Discerning how a teacher uses these words can be a way of both
deepening your understanding of their teaching and your own understanding of
the ideas that the words represent. So bring your confusion to the Teacher of
Truth (Holy Spirit) in your mind and look at them. How do you use these words?
How does the teacher that you are studying use them?…

I have been a student of A Course in Miracles since 1984, a life coach since 2000, and a mentor for students of A Course in Miracles and 4 Habits for Inner Peace since 2006. You can learn more about me and what I offer at my website, www.acimmentor.com.